TV star reveals he discovered he had stage 3 cancer after receiving 'eerie' warning email from viewer
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for HGTV
A TV presenter recalls how he found out he had stage 3 cancer after a viewer warned him from home.
Tarek El Moussa, who has been the star of multiple home renovation television shows, revealed an ‘eerie’ email a viewer sent, which he says ‘saved’ his life.
The 44-year-old explained how in 2013 he found out about his cancer, in an interview with real estate CEO and YouTuber Leo Pareja.
He said: "A fan’s email saved my life. Going into season 2 of Flip or Flop, I remember getting an eerie email from my production company saying they had received an email from the network.”
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The host, who found out he had thyroid cancer and testicular cancer at the same time in 2013, says it was thanks to a fan that he’s alive.
"The email said, ‘I’m a registered nurse from Texas. I noticed there’s a lump on Tarek’s neck. This is not a joke. He needs to get it checked out,” El Moussa recounted.
While he explained he’d already seen a doctor about the lump, and they’d given him the all clear and sent him home with ‘nose spray and allergy medicine’ instead, he decided not to chance it.
Because of the letter, he sought the advice of a second doctor, who wanted to investigate further.
He revealed: "They did a biopsy. It came back as atypical, meaning it could or could not be cancer.
"I went in for exploratory surgery, which means they were just gonna open me up, see what’s going on.
"I woke up five hours later. My entire family looking down on me, crying."
Sadly, the surgery found he had stage 3 thyroid cancer that had spread to his lymph nodes, which meant he needed another surgery to remove his thyroid and lymph nodes.
Due to the experience, El Moussa decided to get other checks to make sure everything else in his body was in order, which led to his second diagnosis.
In a past exam, he found out he had an ‘irregular testicle’ result which make him ask his thyroid doctor about it.
Thankfully, there was an ultrasound booking available that day and El Moussa was able to get a scan.
Twenty minutes later, he was told he had testicular cancer.
"So now, I’m 31, two different cancers, thinking I’m gonna die. I’m a young father,” El Moussa said, referencing his daughter, Taylor, who was born in 2010.
Thankfully, El Moussa went into remission and went on to have a second child, a son called Brayden, with his ex-wife Christina Hall and then another child in 2023 called Tristan with Selling Sunset star Heather Rae Young.